1 Day St. Petersburg Highlights Public Tour

Things to See in St. Petersburg in Just One Day

St. Petersburg, like any other old city with centuries-old history has its own symbols. This 1-day public tour encompasses the best-known things to see in St. Petersburg:

Numerous downtown rivers and canals give St. Petersburg such nicknames as “Venice of the North” and “Russian Amsterdam”. St. Petersburg highlights tour starts with the city sightseeing by boat.

Among the most famous sights a special place belongs to the country-side Royal residences. Every list of things to see in St. Petersburg includes Peterhof. Opulent Peterhof Palace has no repeating rooms – every parlour is different. Peterhof gardens have no repeating fountains – each fountain is different. Visit the Grand Palace and enjoy a walk in the gardens.

Petersburg is frequently called “the city of museums”. A visit to St. Petersburg is always a cultural tour. 90% of St. Petersburg highlights list make historic museums and art galleries, the most famous being the State Hermitage. This public tour includes a visit to the Hermitage that will begin in the Winter Palace of the Russian tsars and cover Small, Old and New Hermitages.

An introduction to the cultural things is good if it’s mixed with the culinary experience. A traditional Russian lunch in a local place will include famous national dishes.

Price: 130 USD per adult. Minimum number of tourists in the group: 2 adults.

St. Petersburg Highlights tour itinerary is as follows:

7:30 – disembark, go through the passport control, meet your guide and driver at the arrivals of the port terminal. Look for the sign “St. Petersburg Highlights Tour”

7:30-9:30 – Your St. Petersburg day tour will start with the city sightseeing by car and boat. You will have stops for picture taking and short walks in the most famous and beautiful squares of St. Petersburg. During the sightseeing tour you will cover: Egyptian Sphinx embankment, Spit of Vassilievsky Island, Admiralty, St. Isaac’s Square, Church on the Blood, Peter and Paul Fortress, the Field of Mars, Summer Gardens, St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral, Mariinsky Theatre and many more. River and canal boat tour will be an excellent introduction to St. Petersburg for you. You will see the most famous sights from water, enjoy beautiful vistas of the Grand Neva River as well as narrow canals of the city centre.

9:30-10:30 – Drive outside the city to Peterhof, the most famous summer residence of the Romanov tsars

11:00-13:00 – in Peterhof your tour includes the Grand Peterhof Palace inside visit. Beautiful masterpiece of early baroque style, this palace has no repeating rooms – each room is different is style, colour or composition. The unique fountain system of Peterhof has no pumps or electricity, the natural principle of gravity is imployed even nowadays

13:30-14:30 – Russian traditional lunch in a local place on the way from Peterhof to St. Petersburg downtown.

Return to St. Petersburg city centre. Metro (=subway) tour on the way. St. Petersburg metro is counted as the world’s deepest. Some metro stations are exquisitely decorated with natural stones and mosaics

15:30-17:30 – Hermitage museum tour. Hermitage is one of the world’s largest and most famous museums, possessing over 3,5 million exhibits. Of course it’s not possible to view all pieces on the exhibition even if you stay fro a week there. During your 2-hour overview tour of the Hermitage museum you will see the main highlights of the West European art collections and some of the gorgeous halls of the former Winter residence of the Romanov-tsars. NOTE: on Mondays the Hermitage is closed. If your cruise docks in St. Petersburg on Monday, the Hermitage museum tour will be replaced with a tour to another famous picture gallery: the State Russian Museum. The Russian Museum offers an interesting exposition of Russian art from ancient icons to Avant-garde paintings, including Russian impressionists, Shagall, Roerikh, Bakst and many others.